The Third World Network and the Centre for Health Equity, Law, and Policy (C-HELP) — with the Global Digital Justice Forum — organized an online panel discussion titled “A People’s Strategy for Digital Health: Why the WHO must move from technology deployment to equitable value sharing” on August 19, 2026.

In 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) released its Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020-2025 (GSDH 20-25), aiming to “strengthen health systems through the application of digital health technologies for consumers, health professionals, health care providers and industry towards empowering patients and achieving the vision of health for all.” Separately, the WHO has also hosted a range of multi-stakeholder initiatives, including the Global Initiative on Digital Health (GIDH) and the Global Initiative on AI for Health (GI-AI4H), wherein it has aimed to, among others,

1. develop technical instruments (like a cross-border network for certifying digital health credentials and a digital health ecosystem monitor);
2. II. publish guiding documents (such as, its guidance on ethics and governance of health AI and LMMs);
3. build the capacity of its member states (for example, through its Global Digital Health Partnership).

These efforts by the WHO reflect a paradigm focused on accelerating the adoption, interoperability and scaling of digital technologies, whereas questions concerning ownership, control, value extraction, value capture and distribution of benefits arising from digital health infrastructures have received negligible attention. More critically, the WHO is right now in the process of developing its next 6-year strategy, and it plans to consult with its member states soon, before ratifying it at the 80th World Health Assembly Meeting (WHA) in 2027.

However, unlike the early days of data- and techno-optimism in which GSDH 20-25 was prepared, we live in the age of concentration of data, cloud infrastructures, and AI capabilities within a handful of transnational firms, intensifying geopolitical competition, and the unregulated deployment of AI tools for healthcare. As a result, it is imperative that those of us in the Global South critically assess and engage with the contents of the GSDH 28-33. This need is all the more integral in the case of multilateral institutions like the WHO, whose neutral and evidence-based position conflicts directly with the US’s current stance on medical ethics and digital trade.

In this context, this webinar brought together the following experts to discuss and analyse the shortfalls of GSDH 2020–27, and articulate a people-first alternative for the upcoming iteration —

1. Shajoe Lake, PhD candidate, Centre for Global Health Law, Warwick Law School
2. Molly Pugh-Jones, Advocacy Manager — Digital Health and Rights, Stop AIDS
3. Dr. Akshay Dinesh, Founder, Action for Equity
4. Timothy Wafula, Associate Director, Programmes & Impact, Kenya Legal Issues and Ethics Network (KELIN)
5. Matheus Z. Falcão, PhD candidate, USP – Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
6. Shivangi Rai, Deputy Coordinator and Lead (Digital Technology, Health, and Society) – C-HELP, moderated the discussion.

A summary of the participants’ inputs is available here.